Man was executed for murder 4 years ago. Now someone else’s DNA has been found on the murder weapon cnn.com

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Ledell Lee maintained his innocence until the end. Before he was executed by the state of Arkansas in April 2017, he gave some of his last words to the BBC, telling the broadcaster, “My dying words will always be, as it has been: I am an innocent man.”

Now, four years after Lee was put to death for the 1993 murder of Debra Reese, attorneys for his family say someone else’s DNA was found on the murder weapon, raising new questions about Lee’s conviction.

“I think if those results had been had before he was executed, he’d still be alive,” Lee Short, who had been Ledell Lee’s attorney, told CNN.

Attorneys representing Lee’s family, including those with the Innocence Project and the American Civil Liberties Union, commissioned DNA testing of the handle of the wooden club that was used to kill Reese.

Last month, they said the results showed the DNA of an unknown man.

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